Comments on: OMG it appears I am a feminist!http://www.samizdata.net/2014/01/omg-it-appears-i-am-a-feminist/
A blog for people with a critically rational individualist perspectiveTue, 31 Mar 2015 20:46:34 +0000hourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.1.1By: Teddhttp://www.samizdata.net/2014/01/omg-it-appears-i-am-a-feminist/#comment-525377
Sun, 12 Jan 2014 05:21:41 +0000http://www.samizdata.net/?p=21630#comment-525377Regarding the article, I think Steve nailed it: As is so often the case, the difference between the libertarian view and other views is not so much the existence or non-existence of a problem, or its causes and effects, but rather what constitutes legitimate and effective solutions.
]]>By: Paul Markshttp://www.samizdata.net/2014/01/omg-it-appears-i-am-a-feminist/#comment-520938
Fri, 10 Jan 2014 10:51:36 +0000http://www.samizdata.net/?p=21630#comment-520938Good post Perry.

And clearly I am a “feminist” also – as I favour no government subsidies (or regulations mandating other people pay X,Y,Z) to either men or women.

Nor do I object to women not sharing my baldness or my short life expectancy.

]]>By: Francishttp://www.samizdata.net/2014/01/omg-it-appears-i-am-a-feminist/#comment-520462
Fri, 10 Jan 2014 05:57:33 +0000http://www.samizdata.net/?p=21630#comment-520462Hurrah! Welcome to feminism. Seriously tho, my sister works for a small company and was raging about her maternity leave situation. Totally inept.
]]>By: veryretiredhttp://www.samizdata.net/2014/01/omg-it-appears-i-am-a-feminist/#comment-520358
Fri, 10 Jan 2014 04:52:03 +0000http://www.samizdata.net/?p=21630#comment-520358The genius of the Constitution is not that it got everything right, but that it managed to get some things very right, and one very special thing spectacularly right—the concept of inalienable rights as a natural component of the individual person.

They are, in effect, non-negotiable. Human rights exist, within the person, as a part of his or her humanity. They are not granted, not a privilege, but must be recognized as an element of the individual’s existence.

That everything is negotiable is the assertion of those who see all of existence as a series of salamis that they can slice a little piece of whenever they can get away with it. And each time they manage to cut a slice, or advance the ratchet, then the next issue becomes how big the next slice will be, never that there shouldn’t be any slicing to begin with.

Getting back to the subject of this posting,(a novel idea, I know,) my mother was a traditional proponent of equal rights for women, especially when it was a matter of jobs and pay.

Fortunately, she was not afflicted with the bizarre man-hatred of the radical feminists of the left, and she lived her life as a hard-working, fiercely independent, and passionately loving person. Not surprisingly, my grandmother, and my own preferences in women, were and are very similar.

I was the fortunate recipient of that ferocity, and thoughtful independence of mind, and revere her memory.

I have been proud to consider myself a feminist in that vein ever since I understood the concept.

Receiving the respect and love of an independent, intelligent, strong woman is one of the great compliments, and affirmations, a man can get in this life.

Negotiation commonly implies a discussion aimed at reaching agreement without using force, and so covers the sort of voluntary contracting that libertarians tend to prefer. But it is obviously possible to use negotiation in the context of discussions aimed at reaching an agreement where the use of force is present, or threatened. One can negotiate ceasefires, surrenders, peace treaties and so on. And negotiation can be used in the world of politics – we’ll water down our employment rights bill if you’ll abstain in the vote of no confidence about the ten million we stole in the defence contracting scandal, and so on.

But even in its most extended meaning, negotiation cannot be used of the voting process involving millions of people who do nothing more than make an X beside a candidate’s name. One voter is not involved in any discussion with any other voter. Although employers and employees may vote, they do not talk to each other through the voting process. If they want to talk, they call each other up or knock on each others doors. It’s certainly true that the outcome of an election – say a victory by pro-employer politicians – may shift the battlefield conditions for the next bout of actual negotiations between employer and employee, by varying the amount of legal coercion that each party may bring to bear, but the voting process itself is not a negotiation.

I do not seem to have a direct response to my ‘what sort of idiot’ question. Is there any reason why?

Because it’s irrelevant to the question of whether or not state actions are backed by the threat of violence.

I’d hate to live in a world where absolutely everything had to be negotiated from scratch.

Politics is negotiation in the same sense that being mugged is.

]]>By: stevehttp://www.samizdata.net/2014/01/omg-it-appears-i-am-a-feminist/#comment-520147
Fri, 10 Jan 2014 02:31:13 +0000http://www.samizdata.net/?p=21630#comment-520147I took that Grauniad test. I got all the way to the end and it became unclear. Do I think something should be done? Yes, like education, agitating for good female role models in cartoons and on tv etc. So I am a Feminist.

But somehow I think the author really means pass a bunch of new laws. So, maybe I am not a Feminist.

No, we have laws for rather different reasons than the avoidance of constant negotiation… and those laws are also not the product of ‘negotiation’ so much but rather the outcomes of who can apply the proxy force of the state to serve their ends. For example me having to pay for some function of the state is not a ‘negotiation’, it is an imposition. That function may or may not be ‘a good idea’ or morally justifiable but it sure as hell ain’t a negotiation.

]]>By: Alisahttp://www.samizdata.net/2014/01/omg-it-appears-i-am-a-feminist/#comment-519998
Fri, 10 Jan 2014 00:04:31 +0000http://www.samizdata.net/?p=21630#comment-519998Ed, it is so obvious that your question nothing but answers itself, that I am amazed that you don’t see it.
]]>By: Mr Edhttp://www.samizdata.net/2014/01/omg-it-appears-i-am-a-feminist/#comment-519989
Fri, 10 Jan 2014 00:00:48 +0000http://www.samizdata.net/?p=21630#comment-519989I do not seem to have a direct response to my ‘what sort of idiot’ question. Is there any reason why?
]]>By: petehttp://www.samizdata.net/2014/01/omg-it-appears-i-am-a-feminist/#comment-519984
Thu, 09 Jan 2014 23:55:48 +0000http://www.samizdata.net/?p=21630#comment-519984Perry, I negotiated with a person yesterday about a car he had for sale. We failed to agree and we parted, never to see each other again.

On such a private, petty matter we can do that.

I’d hate to live in a world where absolutely everything had to be negotiated from scratch.